I love the word entrepreneur. It drips with pretention, snobbery and the absolute unknown coolness that we’ve come to associate with billionaire playboys and their young wives. But the definition is relatively simple: “a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative risk.” A business can be defined as a “profit seeking concern or enterprise.” Simple, right?

Victor and I recently attended the Knoxville Maker Summit which brought together 300 “makers,” shop owners, and members of Etsy to designate Knoxville as a Maker City. During a discussion among our table, the topic of entrepreneurship was brought up, and how makers can become more legitimate. One of the table members assumed, I think, that I’m a hobbyist with a hubby earning 100k a year with absolutely no business saavy. I corrected him and we moved on, but this misunderstanding is common. If you make and sell a good or talent, artistic or not, you ARE an entrepreneur. Right?

The next day I sat down with 7 local entrepreneurs and shared my tips and tricks for maintaining sanity when you work for yourself and this topic surfaced again with the following conclusion: creative makers/business owners need to get their shit in order, develop business saavy, and start calling themselves entrepreneurs. And those who have started non-“creative” businesses need to recognize us.

How in the world do we get our shit in one sock? The first thing we can do is learn about business licenses (and when you need one), accounting or bookkeeping practices, logos and brandings, social media, marketing, and networking. That is if you plan on actually making a living on your handmade business. The Etsy reps reported that of those who sell on Etsy, those sales make up 15% of an individual’s household income. Good for them. My creative & counseling business make up 100% of my income. And I know others who strive to be completely self-employed.

So, here’s the straight dope to clear up all this nonsense: if you self your goods or services, you are an entrepreneur. You can also call yourself #maker, #creativepreneur, #whatever, but the fact remains that you are earning money off of something you create. You’re not creating art and shutting it away in a garage. You’re SELLING it for PROFIT in order to LIVE. So, stop apologizing or refusing to play in the big leagues. Legitimize yourself. Pay your taxes. Create contracts. Determine your ideal client. Market your shit. And stop, for the love of God, discounting your awesomeness as a small business owner. It takes guts, balls of steel, and a crazy awesome resolve to be an entrepreneur. OWN IT!

I’ve been extremely lucky this year to have met and become friends with other creative entrepreneurs living and working to make Knoxville a better city. In all of my conversations, I’m most impressed by those who have a clear intention with not only what they’re doing, but why. They all have a strong sense of who they are, what they offer, and why they’re doing what they’re doing.

The question remains: can you run a successful business while not being a jackass? We read constantly about CEOs who are powerhouses in their field, mostly because they can make difficult decisions, but also because they are aggressive, intimidating, and a bit scary. Does this image of the feared CEO really make for the best business practices? And who declared that in order to be a CEO you must yield a scrotum of steel?

While it’s crucial to be able to make tough decisions, my intention has always and will continue to be very simple: to leave the world a better place than I found it, to empower others to reach their goals, and to live a life that is simple yet impactful. At the core is the ethical principle I live by: do no harm.

How do you go about setting your intention in a world filled with noise and clutter? I think it starts by asking yourself why you’ve chosen to pursue entrepreneurship. What about starting your own business got you fired up? Were you solving a problem? Fixing a broken system? Sometimes finding our intention is as easy as answering that question.

Others that might help include:

1. How do I want to be remembered? What impact do I want to have on the world/my community/my field of work?

2. What is most important to me? How can I use my work to create more of that in my life?

3. Why do I want to be doing what I’m doing for 8 hours a day?

I find that having a firm intention helps me to decide what jobs to take, what boundaries to set, what marketing tactics to use, and how best to serve my customers. Everything else falls into place once you’ve determined for yourself, why you’re doing what you’re doing.

I have no clue where the summer went. It’s been a flurry of activity and all I know is I’m hella ready for fall. Despite my heat-induced memory loss, here are three awesome things in pipeline for fall.

The Moving Theatre presents The Boor

This one has caused a great deal of excitement and fear at the same time. I don’t consider myself a “designer” per se but I was asked to be part of a really cool concept combining theatre, art, music and fashion. In addition to dressing the male actors (major thanks to my mom for taking on this part of it), I’ll also be dressing three models in custom dresses. I’ve learned though, mostly through my own thinking the past month is that we’re all creative geniuses, we just don’t believe it.

Online Sewing Classes

My partner in most things recommended that I turn my sewing classes into online content, and the more I considered it the more I think it’s a great idea. Everyone is busy, including me. An online class gives beginners the opportunity to learn from the comfort of their home and allows me scheduling flexibility. I’ll still be teaching “live” classes this fall, but my online content will be there to supplement that instruction. I’ll be launching my first group of online classes mid-September.

Modern Studio

After an incredibly successful crowdfunding round (we raised $7500!) our deposit has been made and our lease has been signed. We’re waiting for the City of Knoxville to approve our plan and then renovation begins on our building. This is where those live sewing classes will be held, in addition to theatre, music, workshops, support groups, and daytime coworking. It’s an amazingly huge project but we’re getting closer and closer each day.